The invention relates to screening procedures which identify compounds for inhibiting infection or disease in a eukaryotic host organism, or which induce or stimulate a host's pathogenic defense mechanisms. The invention also relates to the use of such compounds as anti-pathogens. In addition, the invention relates to procedures which identify pathogenic virulence factors.
Microbial pathogens such as bacteria, protozoa, fungi, nematodes, and viruses include a large and diverse group of organisms capable of infecting animals and plants. Initiation of an infection occurs when the infecting organism is pathogenic, and the host is susceptible to pathogenic invasion. After establishing contact with susceptible cells or tissues of the host, the pathogen acquires nutrients from its host, facilitating its own survival. During the infection process the pathogen activates a cascade of molecular, biochemical, and physiological processes, the result of which is the release of substances detrimental to the host and the development of disease (See, e.g., Scientific American Medicine, W.H. Freeman and Co., Calif., San Francisco, 1995; Agrios, G. N., Plant Pathology, Academic Press, 1988). The pathogenic effects of microbes are produced in a variety of ways.
Some pathogens act through secreted products. Diphtheria, for instance, is caused by the bacillus, Cornynebacterium diptheriae. This organism is inhaled by the host and establishes infection in the upper respiratory tract. While the bacterium does not itself invade the bloodstream, its powerful toxins do. These toxins are then absorbed by the cells of the body, enzyme function is impaired, and host cells are destroyed.
Other diseases are the result of the body's reaction to a pathogen. For example, in pneumonia, a disease caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae, infection causes an outpouring of fluid and cells into the air sacs of the lungs, interfering with respiration. Fungal infections of the skin similarly result from such inflammatory responses.
Yet other bacteria are opportunistic pathogens. Pseudomonas aeruginosa, for example, infects patients with thermal burns and patients who are immunodeficient or otherwise immunologically compromised. P. aeruginosa infections can be acute and localized as in corneal ulcers and otitis media, chronic as in the lungs of cystic fibrosis patients, or systemic following bloodstream invasion.
Plant pathogenic diseases are also of concern because they cause damage to plants and plant products. Phytopathogens produce disease in plants by any number of methods including: (1) consuming host cell nutrients; (2) killing or disrupting host cell metabolism through toxins, enzymes, or growth-regulators; (3) affecting photosynthesis by inducing chlorosis (e.g., by degrading chloroplasts); and (4) blocking conductive tissues and interfering with normal physiological processes.
Crop plants, ornamentals, trees, and shrubs are especially vulnerable to diseases caused by bacteria, fungi, viruses, and nematodes. Phytopathogenic bacteria, for example, cause the development of many disease symptoms including leaf spots and blights, soft-rots, wilts, overgrowths, scabs, and cankers. Bacterial diseases occur most commonly on vegetables (and some ornamentals) that have fleshy storage tissues, such as potatoes, carrots, onions, iris, or hyacinth. They may also occur in plants bearing fleshy fruit (such as cucumber, squash, eggplant, or tomato), as well as in leafy plants (such as cabbage, celery, lettuce, or spinach). Plant bacterial diseases occur throughout the world and cause serious damage to crops in the field, in transit, and in storage.
The mechanisms of plant pathogenesis are many and varied. One bacterial phytopathogen Erwinia, for example, causes plant diseases such as soft-rot and fire-blight by penetrating a plant through a wound or an accessible natural opening. Once inside, the bacteria secrete enzymes which break down the plant's middle lamellae, resulting in the maceration of tissue and ultimately cell death. Other bacteria, such as certain strains of Pseudomonas, may interfere with water translocation by disrupting xylem within the plant. Pseudomonads invade the xylem of roots and stems and, once inside, secrete enzymes and toxins which destroy the plant. Still other phytopathogenic bacteria, like Agrobacterium and Corynebacterium, stimulate cell division and cell enlargement in affected tissues. This generally leads to the development of amorphous overgrowths, galls, or tumors on roots, stems, or other organs (e.g., crown gall caused by Agrobacterium tumefaciens), or in the proliferation of infected organs (e.g., hairy root caused by Agrobacterium rhizogenes).
Prompt identification of the causative organism is essential to the appropriate selection of anti-pathogenic agents and successful management of clinical and agricultural infections. However, the extensive use of anti-pathogenic agents, such as sulfonamides, tetracyclines, ampicillins, cephalosporins, and aminoglycosides, in both medicine and agriculture has strongly favored the selection of resistant microbial species. This is especially true of bacterial strains containing transmissible resistance plasmids. For example, outbreaks of nosocomial infections from highly resistant strains of Serratia, Klebsiella, Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter, Enterobacter, and Streptococcus have become important and recurrent problems. As a result of selecting resistant strains, over the past few decades, P. aeruginosa has emerged as an important and problematic clinical pathogen, causing between 10% and 20% of infections in hospitals. Currently, several aminoglycosides and third-generation cephalosporins are efficacious against P. aeruginosa, but the relative ease with which P. aeruginosa acquires resistance necessitates the search for new compounds as potential replacements or alternative therapies.